futurespeak

RH: We know that people want more control over their lives and,
at the same time, want more time in their lives for their families,
education, and a bit more leisure. We know that people have all
kinds of choices about when, where, and how they work, and that the
opportunity to make these choices is going to be available for at
least another decade. People are also more inclined to change jobs
frequently now, every two to four years; but they are very intense
in their investments in work during that time. There's a greater
tendency to burn out, or get restless and move on. We realized that
a lot of people take breaks in their careers - they've been called
sabbaticals. It's happening in the corporate world right now.
People take three months, six months, a year off, and then go back
to work.

AD: What do people do during those months away from work?

RH: They want that time to be "me time." They'll say, `I'm going
to get some more education. I'm going to relax a little bit, spend
time with the family, write a book, who knows? Maybe I'll do home
schooling, or volunteer work, take the kids around the world. And
after I finish that, and I want to go back into the work force,
it's not a problem. There will be plenty of jobs out there.'
They'll be well-positioned, because while they're relaxing, they're
also sharpening their acts. And when they go back into the work
force, they can do so much better than anyone who stayed with their
nose to the grindstone and got a sore nose.

AD: This may work well for single people or empty-nesters, but
what about those workers who have family obligations? How will they
make their mid-career retirements fit with their kids'
schedules?

RH: Schooling will have to change. Kids will have breaks, and
will experience variances in their education. Instead of sending
their kids straight through public schools, parents may take some
time to home school their kids. Schools will start to set up
special travel arrangements so families can take learning vacations
together.

AD: What will this mean for marketers?

RH: There will be tremendous demand for a new kind of financial
planning service. `How can I save and invest my money so that I can
fund my own mid-career retirement?' At this point, there aren't
that many employers that are funding this, and even if they are,
people don't want to be tied down to go back to that same
company.

There will also be demand for all kinds of adventure experiences
- education tourism. While people want to relax, they also will
want to learn something. There will probably be some degree of
guilt - `all of my buddies are working and I'm not.' So while there
will be demand for adult education, there will be pressure to get
these things done faster. `If I go back to college, perhaps I'll
get a mini Master's degree.' There will also be demand for
short-term leases on recreational vehicles and vacation home
time-shares. There will be more interest in experiences, rather
than things.

AD: Will there be any change in the demand for products?

RH: There will be practical areas of consumer demand. For
example, what happens when people leave their homes for extended
periods of time? There will be opportunities for enhanced security
services to do a little more than just make sure the doors are
locked.

Imagine if you measured your career in years instead of decades.
Imagine if every few years you had the chance to pick up stakes,
quit your job, travel the world, go back to school, spend time with
your kids, or just sit and stare out the window. And then, after a
year or so, re-enter the workplace and launch a brand-new
career.

Workplace futurist Roger E. Herman believes that these
"mid-career retirements" will soon become a fixture of modern life.
Retirement is usually defined as a block of consecutive
senior-citizen years. Starting today, and increasingly over the
next decade, Herman believes that consumers will instead pepper
those retirement years throughout their entire adult lives. In this
sporadic style, consumers will stay in the work force well into
their golden years, and traditional retirement will become
obsolete.

Herman is the CEO of The Herman Group, a Greensboro, North
Carolina futurism consultancy that specializes in workplace trends.
Over the past two decades, he and his wife, futurist Joyce L.
Gioia-Herman, have penned 10 books, most recently How to Become an
Employer of Choice (Oakhill Press, 2000). The duo also shares trend
insights with clients ranging from Arthur Andersen to Wal-Mart.
Herman contends this mid-career retirement trend may transform
consumption patterns of everything from financial services to home
security systems. American Demographics asked Herman to discuss how
the trend is likely to impact consumer behavior.